Ihsan Abbass

Personal Info

Years in active : From 1941 To 2003
Country of resident : Jordan
City : Amman
Gender : Male
Date of birth : 12/2/1920

Information

Born in Ein Ghazal near Haifa on 2 Dec. 1920; completed high school in Haifa and Acre, then attended four years at the Arab College in Jerusalem (1937-41); worked as a teacher at Safad College from 1941-46; received a BA in Arabic Literature from Cairo University in 1950; taught at private schools in Cairo, then moved to Khartoum, Sudan, where he worked between 1951 and 1960 as a teacher at the Gordon Memorial College (later known as the University of Khartoum), while still continuing his graduate studies; received an MA (1952) and PhD (1954) in Arabic Literature from Cairo University; was appointed Professor of Arabic Literature at the AUB in 1961 and remained there until his retirement in 1985; moved to Jordan in 1986 where he was assigned to conduct a research project on the history of the Levant for the University of Jordan; published numerous books, studies and articles on history and Arabic Literature with a focus on Arab Andalusian Literature, in addition to translating world literature into Arabic, for instance, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick; has published his autobiography in Amman in 1996; was awarded several honorary prizes like the King Faisal International Prize in 1980 and the Jerusalem Medal for Culture and Arts awarded by the PLO in 1990; died in Amman in July 2003.